The invention relates to an expandable bladder having an interior sheet and an exterior sheet that provides a distance between the interior and exterior sheets whether or not the bladder is bent.
Padding elements may be used for a variety of purposes, including packaging for protecting contents within the package, mattresses for providing adequate support to all areas of a user""s body while minimizing the hammocking effect, which is where the mattress bows and leaves voids such as the neck and lower back without support, and inflatable structures to provide integrity while reducing injury. Although padding elements may be suitable for some applications, they may be unsuitable for other applications. For example, Styrofoam boards may provide adequate protection to contents during shipment along a length of a package but may not provide adequate protection around corners because Styrofoam is often difficult to bend without breaking. Another example is an inflatable device that uses air to protect contents of a package. These devices may be easier to maneuver around a corner but, during bending, walls of the devices often collapse onto one another, in which case air is displaced away from the corner, thereby subjecting the contents to damage in this area.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 257,200 to LaRocca (xe2x80x9cLaRoccaxe2x80x9d), U.S. Pat. No. 4,482,054 to Gardner (xe2x80x9cGardnerxe2x80x9d), U.S. Pat. No. 2,715,231 to O. F. Marston (xe2x80x9cMarstonxe2x80x9d), U.S. Pat. No. 3,346,101 to J. A. Pestka (xe2x80x9cPestkaxe2x80x9d), U. S. Pat. No. 4,697,290 to Alklind et al. (xe2x80x9cAlklindxe2x80x9d), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,060 to Forti et al. (xe2x80x9cFortixe2x80x9d) seem to disclose structures having crimped sections to facilitate bending. However, due to the crimped sections, the references do not appear to provide a distance between the interior and exterior sheets during bending and, hence, the interior and exterior sheets seem to come together and may also touch, thereby possibly reducing structural integrity in favor of bendability.
U.S. Pat. No. 974,871 to J. T. Ferres (xe2x80x9cFerresxe2x80x9d) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,770 to Park (xe2x80x9cParkxe2x80x9d) seem to disclose a non-expandable, fixed structure for packaging and, hence, bending appears to be difficult. U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,270 to Cope et al. (xe2x80x9cCopexe2x80x9d), U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,151 to Chelak (xe2x80x9cChelakxe2x80x9d), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,274 to Pharo (xe2x80x9cPharoxe2x80x9d) seem to disclose structures that have generally parallel sheets of material for containing air or another substance. However, upon being bent, the sheets in Cope, Chelak, and Pharo appear to collapse onto one another where the distance between the sheets is no longer maintained, thereby possibly reducing the effectiveness of the packaging.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,681 to Holcombe (xe2x80x9cHolcombexe2x80x9d) appears to relate to an inflatable structure having bends or elbows to permit the structure to orient members at various angles. To achieve a bend, the Holcombe appears to remove material from an interior part of the bend. Although this may provide a distance between interior and exterior parts of the bend, removing material often reduces structural integrity.
What is desired, therefore, is a device that maintains adequate protection whether or not it is subjected to bending. Another desire is a device that has walls spaced apart from each other to protect contents on one side of one wall from damaging elements in contact with the other wall and that this distance between the walls be maintained during bending of the device.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a device that maintains a distance between an interior part of a bend and an exterior part of the bend.
Another desire is to provide a device that facilitates bending without sacrificing structural integrity
These and other objects of the invention are achieved by provision of an expandable bladder having an interior sheet and an exterior sheet extending from a left direction toward a right direction and where the exterior sheet has an inner side and an outer side. The interior sheet is coupled to the inner side of the exterior sheet where the outer side is facing upwardly and the inner side is facing downwardly.
The exterior sheet has a first fold defined by a first part and a second part and the second part of the first fold is folded onto the first part of the first fold, whereby the first part of the first fold extends from a left direction toward a right direction and the second part of the first fold extends from a right direction toward a left direction.
The exterior sheet has a second fold following the first fold, the second fold defined by a first part and a second part and the second part of the second fold is folded onto the first part of the second fold, whereby the first part of the second fold extends from a right direction toward a left direction and the second part of the second fold extends from a left direction toward a right direction.
In some embodiments, the expandable bladder may couple the first and second folds with the interior or exterior sheet.
In other embodiments, the first and second folds may be cyclically repetitive along the exterior sheet and may be as numerous as desired for adequate bending of the expandable bladder.
The outer side of the first and second folds face upwardly and the inner side of the first and second folds face downwardly when a substance is placed between the interior and exterior sheets and, when the interior and exterior sheets are subjected to bending, the interior and exterior sheets provide a space between them.
In another embodiment, the expandable bladder""s exterior sheet includes a third fold following the second fold, the third fold defined by a first part and a second part and the second part of the third fold is folded onto the first part of the third fold, whereby the first part of the third fold extends from a left direction toward a right direction and the second part of the third fold extends from a right direction toward a left direction.
The exterior sheet also has a fourth fold following the third fold, the fourth fold defined by a first part and a second part and the second part of the fourth fold is folded onto the first part of the fourth fold, whereby the first part of the fourth fold extends from a right direction toward a left direction and the second part of the fourth fold extends from a left direction toward a right direction.
In another embodiment, the expandable bladder is limited to the component that uses the bladder. The component may include a mattress, packaging material, or an inflatable structure.
The invention and its particular features and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description considered with reference to the accompanying drawings.